This week’s article is inspired by the fact that May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the US, and we also have Mental Health Awareness Week coming up in the UK, and this year’s theme for the UK is “Take Action”, which feels particularly relevant to what I want to share.
So, over the next few weeks, I’m going to be exploring mental health, focusing on the factors that can influence how you feel day to day, and where you might be able to take small, practical actions to support yourself.
Understanding The Bigger Picture
It’s important to say that mental health is, of course, complex. There’s no single cause, no one-size-fits-all solution, and it doesn’t fit into one explanation or label.
I’m not talking here about diagnosing or treating mental health conditions, and I’m not suggesting that the areas I’ll cover are the root cause of someone’s challenges. But alongside everything else that might be going on, there are things that I see time and time again in my coaching work, that can either support your mental health, or make things more challenging.
And often, people focus on how they feel, which is completely understandable, but they’re not always looking at what might be influencing how they feel. Furthermore, sometimes, when we’re given a label or diagnosis, it can also affect how we see things and where we believe our level of influence is.
So instead of looking at mental health as something fixed or static, it can be helpful to zoom out and see it as something that is often influenced by a number of different factors.
Factors That Can Influence How You Feel
There are four areas in particular that I see come up again and again in my work, and that can have a significant impact on day-to-day mental health:
- Food and eating habits – what you eat, and how you eat.
- Movement and activity – how much you move.
- Stress levels – the impact of stress hormones on your mental health.
- Internal dialogue – your ‘inner critic’ and relationship with shame.
Each of these can either support how you feel or make things more challenging. And importantly, they don’t exist in isolation, they usually overlap.
For example, high stress levels can affect appetite, which then impacts energy and blood sugar, which can increase anxiety and affect sleep… all then feeding back into how you feel overall.
So these contributing factors often lead to cycles, and as I touched on in last week’s article and episode, those cycles, or routines, can then either support you or work against you.
Taking Action
This is where the “Take Action” theme becomes very relevant, because this isn’t about doing everything perfectly, or suggesting that if you’re struggling, it’s your fault. It’s about recognising that there may be areas of your life that are influencing how you feel, mentally (and physically), and that, in some cases, you may have more influence there than you realise.
It’s also important to note that supporting yourself well isn’t only about reacting when things are challenging; it’s about being proactive where you can and keeping these areas in a good place, because they can make a significant difference to your overall wellbeing when maintained.
And if you are struggling, this series is really about helping you explore whether any of these areas might be playing a role.
Over the next four episodes, I’ll be breaking each of these down in more detail, in a practical and realistic way. The aim is to help you better understand what might be influencing how you feel, and where you might be able to make some changes that will support your mental health.
Kate x
If you’re interested in some support for yourself or your organisation, I offer 1:1 coaching and partner with organisations to deliver wellbeing and performance-focused workshops, programmes, and team coaching.
Email info@katehorwood.com to arrange a consultation call.
